Thousand-year-old family: its rise began with Shang Yang’s reforms

Chapter 358 Why don't you take his place? [Subscribe]

There was an inexplicable sigh in Cao Cao's expression. It had been a long time since he had drunk with Liu Bei like this.

He looked at Liu Bei in silence, and said calmly, "What do you want from me today, uncle?"

Cao Cao's tone was slightly sarcastic but with some obscure concern. Judging from the confrontation between them over the years, Liu Bei should not have come to him if it was not a very important matter.

Liu Bei didn't care about Cao Cao's tone, he just poured out the warm wine in the jug.

He raised his glass and said softly, "We received a letter from the An Palace saying that King An's health may not last until the winter of this year."

Is it hard to hold on until this winter?

Cao Cao raised his eyebrows: "Oh? Is this true? Could it be that you and King An have teamed up to set me up?"

Liu Bei looked at Cao Cao with an indescribable expression and said, "If King An wanted to deal with you, why would he set up a trap for you?"

"With one more word, your head will probably be taken off your neck."

Cao Cao smiled and shook his head: "Although this may not be pleasant to hear, it is quite correct."

He let out a long sigh, and finally felt an inexplicable sadness.

"The Han Dynasty is in turmoil right now, and if His Royal Highness King An passes away at this time, I really don't know what kind of impact it will have on the world."

He was silent for a moment and then asked, "How are the Taiping Dao and the Five Pecks of Rice Sect doing? Are there any new moves?"

In fact, most people in the court knew about these two sects among the people. They were especially concerned about Zhang Jue of the Taiping Dao. After all, when Zhang Jue founded the Taiping Dao, he claimed to be a disciple of the "Nanhua Laoxian" and he himself was enlightened by the "Emperor of Enlightenment".

This is equivalent to telling the world that he and Chen may have some secret connection.

Afterwards, Chen did not make any obvious objection to this person's statement, which made Liu Bei and Cao Cao start to worry about whether this matter was true.

If Chen is really behind Taiping Dao, then what does Chen want to do?
Cao Cao and Liu Bei looked at each other and saw worry in each other's eyes.

But their concerns are different.

Liu Bei was worried because he was afraid that the Taiping Dao had the support of the Chen family behind it, and that Chen's behavior was tacit approval of the Taiping Dao's future rebellion and to replace the Liu family as the masters of the world.

He was afraid that the Han Dynasty would be overthrown.

Cao Cao's concerns were similar to Liu Bei's. He was also worried that the Han Dynasty would be overthrown. But the difference between Cao Cao and Liu Bei was that Cao Cao was thinking about the possibility of not being a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty.

After all, if the Chen and Liu families fell out, then the possibility of the Chen family winning was relatively high.

This thought disappeared from his mind in an instant. At this time, Cao Cao was actually still a true loyal minister of the Han Dynasty. It was impossible for him to watch the Han Dynasty fall.

He wanted to save the big man from danger.

He wanted to go down in history as someone who turned the tide like Chen Chong did back then.

In fact, Cao Cao’s biggest “idols” were people like Chen Chong and Liu Xiu.

Liu Bei just sighed silently and looked at Cao Cao: "Donglin has gone to Zhang Jiao's side. It seems that he has been traveling around the world with Zhang Jiao these days."

He said silently: "I can actually understand King An's approach. After all, the world is indeed too corrupt and decadent now. King An wants Dong Lin to feel the lives of the people and see the people at the bottom of the Han Dynasty. This is not too much."

"only."

Having said this, Liu Bei fell silent.

Cao Cao laughed sarcastically: "It's just that you are afraid of seeing the sufferings of the world, so you will choose a path you don't want to see, right?"

"Xuan De."

Cao Cao's voice was filled with a hint of disappointment: "In fact, it's not just Donglin. Even I don't understand what you are insisting on."

"Don't you know what kind of life the people are living now?"

"Don't you know that the current emperor is actually more incompetent than other fathers?"

There was actually a lot of anger hidden in Cao Cao's voice, because the facts were exactly as he said.

This is also the biggest disagreement between the two, or the three of them, and it is also the reason why over the years, the three of them rarely chat and drink together like they did in the past.

There are only so many things people, or men, can talk about after getting drunk.

Women, the world situation, and his own thoughts on family and national affairs.

But if you don't agree with each other, there's no point in saying anything more. The three people have different persistence.

Liu Bei believed that he was the emperor after all, and no matter how incompetent he was, they, as his subjects, could only fulfill their duty of persuasion. If that didn't work, they could become powerful ministers as long as they could stabilize the Han Dynasty.

However, Cao Cao believed that the current emperor was incompetent and even more unscrupulous than Emperor Ling - and that the current emperor was smarter and more cunning than his father. If such a smart and righteous emperor could not correct himself in time, then none of them would have a good ending in the future.

As for Chen Zhulou?
Chen Zhulou always drank silently, but both Liu Bei and Cao Cao could see that Chen Zhulou wanted to give the people of the world an ordinary and peaceful life.

It is the kind of ordinary world where you can have food to eat and support yourself and your family after working hard all year.

He doesn't care who is the emperor.

Liu Bei sat there silently. He thought of the late emperor's last wishes before his death, and there was a hint of fatigue and powerlessness in his brows.

Cao Cao looked at him and said, "Do you know what the little emperor has been doing recently?"

"He secretly summoned He Jin, Dong Cheng, Fu Wan and others. Xuande, you can guess what they discussed and what they conspired, right?"

Liu Bei remained silent.

But Cao Cao just sneered, he sat there and drank one cup of wine after another.

Liu Bei sighed.

In fact, Cao Cao was not like this in the year when the new emperor ascended the throne.

Chen Zhulou is not like this either.

The root of all changes lies in the new emperor Liu Bian.

He was a very smart man, but also a very ambitious and greedy one.

Liu Bei didn't know what adjectives to use to describe Liu Bian, because he always felt that all the words seemed inappropriate for Liu Bian.

You say Liu Bian is very smart, but he is naive enough to think that he can rely on Dong Cheng, Fu Wan, He Jin and others to overthrow the three big mountains standing in the court now - Liu Bei, Chen family, and Cao Cao.

You say Liu Bian is stupid? But he is smart enough to win over the ministers in the court, even many great Confucian scholars. Liu Bei can even feel that his teacher is beginning to waver, thinking that he is conspiring with Cao Cao to control the government after King An's death.

You say Liu Bian is greedy? But he was generous enough to promise a lot of power to these people, making them willing to take the bait and become enemies of the two of them.

You say Liu Bian is not greedy? But he wants all the power, and wants to be like his ancestor "Liu Che" who lived countless generations ago, an emperor who can take charge of the government and dismiss the prime minister with a glance. Liu Bian is a collection of contradictions.

The most important thing is that Liu Bian is a man with nothing in his heart.

He doesn't care about the people, the world, or anything else. He just wants to madly grab all the power in his own hands and then issue orders to the world so that no one dares to disobey.

But even the Emperor Wu back then was not like this. How many people in the world could match the strategy of the Emperor Wu back then?

Liu Bei sighed again, doubting whether what he was doing was right.

Seeing Liu Bei's silence, Cao Cao did not say any more mocking words.

In fact, he also knew Liu Bei's difficulties. It's not that Liu Bei has not advised the emperor in the past two years, but the emperor always had the attitude of "I will obey you in front of you, but I will continue to make small moves behind your back."

Cao Cao stood up, looked at Liu Bei and said, "Xuan De, if you don't make a decision, you will suffer the consequences."

"Emperor Guangwu saved the Han Dynasty from collapse in the past. The Han Dynasty has been around for four hundred years. Do you want to let the four-hundred-year-old Han Dynasty fall like this?"

"You are also the descendant of Emperor Gao. This was acknowledged by the late emperor himself. You are the uncle of this great man."

"If you are willing--"

Before he finished speaking, Liu Bei stood up instantly. He looked at Cao Cao with a solemn expression on his face: "Meng De, there is no need to say more."

"The late emperor was very kind to me. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't know where I am now."

"I would never do such a thing!"

Cao Cao proposed more than once that Liu Bei accept the emperor's "abdication" as the emperor's uncle.

Firstly, Liu Bei is indeed a descendant of the Liu family, which has been acknowledged by the late emperor himself. Even if the current emperor denies it, it will be of no use.

Secondly, Liu Bei's intelligence and ability to govern the country are obvious to all. If he could ascend to the throne, he might be able to extend the fortunes of the Han Dynasty for hundreds of years.

In fact, Cao Cao had discussed this with King An and Chen Zexi. Their attitudes were very consistent, which was to recognize Liu Bei's identity and ability. If Liu Bei really wanted to ascend the throne, the Chen family would stand on Liu Bei's side.

But at the moment, the biggest difficulty is that Liu Bei himself is unwilling.

He felt that he was a relative of the Han Dynasty, so how could he take advantage of someone in distress? There were so many relatives of the royal family, and even uncles of the emperor, in this world, so how could he seize the throne of the direct descendant of the Liu family?

He was willing to be a powerful official who saved the Han Dynasty, but he absolutely could not tolerate himself becoming the emperor of the Han Dynasty.

Because for Liu Bei, accepting the abdication and becoming the emperor of the Han Dynasty was tantamount to treason.

He was unwilling to do so.

Cao Cao looked at Liu Bei's departing back, with a look of fatigue and helplessness on his face.

He raised his head to look at the sky and said weakly, "Big man."

"Is there still a possibility of being saved?"

An Wangfu
Chen Zexi placed the chess piece at Tianyuan, and then yawned: "Uncle, what do you think Xuande is thinking? Why is he unwilling to accept Mengde and I's ideas and become the emperor of the Han Dynasty?"

He scratched his head and said, "I feel that if Xuande becomes the emperor, it would be a life-saving medicine for the Han Dynasty."

"At least it can extend the life of the Han Dynasty by another hundred years, right?"

After Chen Chengji coughed a few times, he said with emotion on his face: "Xuan De is an upright person with the demeanor of an ancient gentleman. He is unwilling to take advantage of this opportunity to take the throne, probably because of the late emperor's kindness."

"Besides -"

Chen Chengji smiled and said, "Even if Xuande came to power, I'm afraid he wouldn't be able to extend his life for another hundred years, right?"

He looked into the distance and said, "It's like a big tree. If there are problems with its branches and leaves, it can only be said to be a minor problem. As long as all the corrupt branches and leaves are removed, it can be restored to health again."

"But if the roots of a big tree are rotten, then the problem is very difficult to solve. But there are ways around it. As long as the tree is dug out from the roots, the rotten roots are removed, and then symptomatic treatment is given, the tree can be rejuvenated."

Chen Chengji's voice was plain and leisurely, but the deep meaning in it made people feel helpless when they heard it.

"But what if a big tree is rotten from its branches to its roots, or even to its entire core?"

"Then there is really no way to save it."

He closed his eyes and said, "This is the case with the man now. Everything from the branches to the roots and the heart of the tree is rotten. How can we save such a man?"

Chen Chengji dropped a piece, and then said with emotion: "Write a letter to Zhu Lou."

"I'm afraid my health will only last for these few months."

"He must come back before I die, otherwise the big man might not be able to wait until Zhu Lou figures it out."

A trace of sadness flashed across Chen Zexi's face, and he nodded slightly: "I understand."

"I will write to Donglin immediately and ask him to come back as soon as possible."

Chen Chengji didn't say anything else, just sat there, looking into the distance at the clear blue sky outside.

Time passes slowly, and the rise and fall of the ages pass by.

Hanzhong County

After Chen Zhulou received the secret letter from Heibingtai, he looked even more tired and confused.

In the past year or so, he had traveled around the world with Zhang Jue and had truly seen the lives of the common people.

Even with his father King An around, and even with Xuande and Mengde around, the people's lives were still miserable, and this was even better than before.

During the observation, Chen Zhulou also discovered a problem.

The big man was rotten from top to bottom, inside and out.

If you want to save the Han Dynasty, you have to overthrow all of this and rebuild it.

Can.
Amid the turmoil, won’t the people of the world suffer?

When the war comes, the people are still the ones who suffer.

He turned around, looked at the ordinary old man, and whispered: "My father's health is not good, I want to go back."

Zhang Jue didn't look back, but just waved his hand: "Okay, go ahead."

Chen Zhulou also didn't say much, but just stood beside the carriage that had been prepared long ago, looking at Zhang Jue's figure.

He silently watched this shabby and corrupt world.

(End of this chapter)